Letters to the Editor
Law school admissions policy is skewed
Jon Van Dyke's March 29 letter is of the Hound of the Baskervilles variety: that is, the interest is precisely in that which wasn't noticeable, or the non-barking of the hound.
The Supreme Court struck down racial preferences in law school admissions. Van Dyke limits himself to ersatz Hawaiian history, while the 2001 official guide to American Bar Association-approved schools shows that at the school where he teaches (University of Hawai'i), 50 J.D. degrees were awarded to candidates who were Asian-American or Native American, 19 J.D. degrees were awarded to European Americans (a majority of them women), 0 to Hispanic Americans and 0 to African Americans.
No Mainland law school could have an admissions policy that skewed.
Richard Thompson
Beware the attractive woman bearing petition
If anyone in Hawai'i thinks the gambling issue here is dead, read on. There are at least two well-funded organizations courting our legislators with slick brochures and faulty statistics, encouraging them to legalize gambling in Hawai'i.
Perhaps you have been confronted by an attractive young woman bearing petitions and seeking signatures to support casinos in Hawai'i. She and others are making the rounds of our beaches, shopping areas, public buses, Shirokiya, even at the Honolulu Symphony during intermission
High-stakes gaming outfits import people to do this, pay them well and present their findings to friendly legislators, who are then urged to slip a clause into a pending bill or resolution that would make gambling legal in Hawai'i.
Is this what you want? Are you ready for the economic and social consequences: cannibalizing of small businesses, divorce, child abuse, even more bankruptcies, gambling addicts recovery groups, crime? I hope not.
Now's the time to call your legislators and tell them: "No legalized gambling."
Judy A. Rantala
Hawai'i Coalition Against Legalized Gambling
Policy-makers must refocus war on drugs
It is heartening to see The Honolulu Advertiser joining dozens of other newspapers of record throughout the country with your editorial "We're losing stomach for war on drugs" (March 25).
As a Pew Research Center poll shows, the citizens are once again ahead of timid policy-makers, most of whom still fear being seen as "soft on drugs" and continue to support a failed policy.
Your editorial states, " ... the nation isn't ready for abandonment of the prohibition of drugs in favor of a radical new approach like the 'Harm Reduction' model." Perhaps that is because the "nation" has been misled about harm reduction, which is widely practiced in the United States in many different forms, e.g., low-tar cigarettes, seat belts, clean-needle exchanges, methadone maintenance.
Harm reduction is neither new nor radical. It is based on four logical principles: common sense, science, public health and respect for individual rights. Our current drug laws and policies embody none of these.
Until we can shift our thinking to embrace a policy based on these principles, we will continue to have the unregulated black market for drugs with all of its negative fallout, especially on our youth.
Donald M. Topping
President, Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i
Nuclear attack subs are no longer needed
After following the Navy's inquiry into the tragic sinking of the Ehime Maru, I got the feeling the Navy's idea of "transparency" was in reality a glass ceiling designed to shield both the Navy and the U.S. government from real scrutiny.
A fundamental question, which was never asked during the proceedings, is why there should be nuclear attack subs like the USS Greeneville operating in the open seas in the first place. These boats, designed during the Cold War to hunt down Soviet "boomers," are truly vessels without a cause, since there are no longer any Soviet or other threats (save some imaginary or invented ones) to attack these days.
Bottom line: If the United States adopted a rational foreign policy that relies primarily on diplomacy and mutual co-operation, rather than on firepower supremacy and nuclear blackmail, there would be no attack subs prowling the seas constantly increasing the chances of naval mishaps.
The Ehime Maru sinking was not an accident, but an accident waiting to happen.
Danny Li
New research center, medical school essential
A new medical school and biotechnology research center are a down payment on Hawai'i's economic future.
Just follow the money. Billions of dollars are being invested in biotechnology initiatives all over the world, all poised to exploit the scientific and commercial potential of the human genome.
Case in point: Michigan is spending $1 billion of tobacco settlement money over the next 20 years to promote biotechnology research and business development within the state. The University of Michigan has committed $226 million to establish a "Life Sciences Institute" at the Medical Campus, focusing in large part on genomics and bio-informatics. Similar initiatives have been launched at institutions all across the country.
We are entering a "golden age of discovery" for biology and medicine. The Human Genome Project has leveled the playing field for all researchers. Hawai'i should be a player and not an observer. A new research-oriented medical school gets us in the game.
Gordon Okimoto
Chief Scientific Officer, Cyphera LLC
Headstone lacking
Does anyone know why there is still no headstone for the late, great, beloved ethnobotanist Bea Krauss at her grave in Makawao Cemetery?
Surely someone who gave so much to Hawai'i deserves one. If it is a question of money, perhaps Bea's many friends would like to contribute.
Laurel Murphy
Kihei, Maui
